PPP poll: Casey leads unknown GOP challengers

Colby ItkowitzCall Washington Bureau

With just slightly a month to go before Pennsylvania's April 24 primary, Republican voters in the state know very little about the slate of candidates they have to choose from to go up against incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.

Casey has mediocre job approval, with just 38 percent positive, 36 percent negative and 26 percent unsure, according to a survey released Wednesday by Public Policy Polling. But he still overwhelmingly trumps his opponents who Pennsylvanians simply have little to no knowledge of.

Candidates Sam Rohrer, who is known among Pennsylvania Republicans for running to the right of Gov. Tom Corbett in the 2010 gubernatorial election, and Tom Smith, the former coal company executive who is the only candidate airing television ads, have the highest recognition with 12 percent favorable and 13 percent unfavorable for both. But for each, three quarters of Republican voters have no opinion.

The other candidates, Steve Welch, who has the state GOP party backing, David Christian, the veterans advocate, and Marc Scaringi, a Harrisburg lawyer and former Rick Santorum staffer, each have over 80 percent of voters with no opinion of them.

Casey leads all of his challengers in head-to-head matchups with around half of voters for him, around a third for the Republican in question and around a quarter unsure.

Meanwhile, in a race that's been eerily quiet, Smith is up with a 30-second television commercial, tying Casey and President Obama to an overreaching federal government.

“Washington politicians are flooding American with red ink. Our national debt is over $15 trillion and climbing. President Obama and Sen. Casey want even more,” Smith narrates as red ink spreads over images of Washington, a "Main Street" neighborhood and a map of the United States. “America is in trouble and it’s time to change course.”